The Effect of Marital Conflict and Positive Parenting on the Development of Adolescent Global Self-Worth
Open Access DepositedPositive global self-worth is a significant predictor of higher levels of happiness, life satisfaction and well-being (Booth-Laforce et al., 2006
however, most studies do not consider the influence of the family environment on global self-worth. The current study addressed this gap by examining the longitudinal associations between marital conflict and positive parenting in early childhood and their influence on adolescent global self-worth within a developmental framework. Participants were 561 adopted children placed at birth and their adoptive parents, who were part of a larger sample of birth and adoptive families that participated in the Early Growth & Growth Development Study (EGDS). Adoptive parent-reported measures of marital conflict and positive parenting were assessed at child ages 4.5, 6 and 7, while adolescent global self-worth was measured via child-report at age 11 or 15. The Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model (RI-CLPM) was utilized to assess within-person associations between marital conflict and positive parenting over time, and their links with global self-worth during adolescence, adjusting for between-person associations between marital conflict, positive parenting and global self-worth. Contrary to hypotheses, results showed no significant between-person or within-person associations between marital conflict and positive parenting. Furthermore, marital conflict and positive parenting during early childhood were not significantly related to adolescent global self-worth. The absence of significant associations may be due to the low-risk nature of the study sample and limited assessment of parenting dimensions. Future research conducted with higher-risk populations with greater variability in marital conflict may be needed to fully examine links between marital conflict, positive parenting during early childhood and adolescent global self-worth.
McAdams et al., 2017)
Kapke et al., 2017
Bum & Jeon, 2016
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